Enhanced electrocaloric effect in ferroelectric poly(vinylidene-fluoride/trifluoroethylene) 55/45 mol % copolymer at ferroelectric-paraelectric transition

The electrocaloric effect (ECE) of the ferroelectric poly(vinylidene-fluoride/trifluoroethylene) 55/45 mol % copolymer was directly measured over a broad temperature range using a specially designed calorimetry method. The data reveal a large ECE occurring at the ferroelectric-paraelectric (FE–PE) phase transition where an adiabatic temperature change ∼12 °C was induced under a field of 120 MV/m, which is much higher than that previously observed at above the FE–PE transition. The directly measured ECE also confirms the earlier results deduced from the indirect method. The experimental data also show that there are secondary effects contributing to the observed ECE in the polymer.